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Cavalier mass breeders, and brokers of dogs

I received this from a rescue colleague; I asked her if she would describe her own experience of going in to an Irish puppy 'farm' (in a residential house!) full of cavaliers :

Me: "Hello, I am calling about the ad you have in the *** and **** paper I see that you have cavaliers for sale"
Ms X: "Yes I have Blenheim, Rubies all colours and ages."
Me: "Can I come and visit on Saturday?"
Ms X: "Yes I will meet you at the Statoil station in ********"

We met at the agreed petrol station and Ms X had a puppy in her arms. I said that I wished to choose my puppy if that was appropriate and convinced her to take me to see the others.

As I walked up to the run down semi detached house in a regular housing estate I had a strange feeling come over me. I did not quite know what to expect but the report I had been given signalled to me that the situation was not good.

Ms X: "Apologies for the mess, but I am working night shift as a care nurse in ******** hospital"

I flattered her telling her how lovely her home was and how excited I was to finally own my first dog. I thought it best to lead her to believe I had no idea about dogs or their needs and that way I may get to see more of her 'breeding establishment'.

She opened the front door and the stench hit me like a ton of bricks. The ammonia and stale scent in the air made me cough out loud. I was invited in and as soon as I stepped into the hallway by eyes started to sting from the acidity in the air. We walked through a dark hallway, the carpet was covered in dust and dirt and I was ushered into a side room. I turned around to see at least 10 faces peering at me, all silent, all fearful, all helpless. I will never forget the face of one female who was standing on a bed - she had almost an entire white face, very long legs and she looked so afraid but she looked right at me as if she was asking for help.

Along the wall there were boxes with dirty blankets covering them. Inside these boxes were litters and litters of puppies. The ages varied from newborn to 6 weeks. Ms X put a dirty blanket on the floor and took a puppy out to show me. She placed the pup on the blanket on the floor and said "You can have this one cheap because IT has a skull problem". The puppy squirmed on the floor disorientated and afraid. I picked it up and I could feel a gaping whole in the puppies crown. The mother was no where to be seen.

I asked to see their paperwork and she went to find some. I put the sickly puppy back in it's box with it's litter mates where it took cover between them. I took the opportunity to take as many photos as I could. I left the room and went to look around. There were approximately 10 males in the kitchen area, feet covered in excrement and urine and what looked like mice droppings sprinkled were all over the floor. None were injured physically but all looked to be suffering from some sort of psycholgoical problem.

I went to look out the back garden through a window at the rear of the house...more cavaliers everywhere amongst make shift kennels and debris. They all looked at me in shock as if they had never seen a person before. Some barked, some stepped backwards, some ran into their kennel areas.

As I was taking photos out the window I noticed my feet felt damp and I looked down to see that my running shoes were soaked in urine ... the carpet was saturated through. I began to feel a mixture of nausea, anger and sadness. I gathered myself and pretended to get lost in the house.

As I walk back to the original "puppy" room I am met at the bottom of the stairs by Ms X, she holds some paperwork that I could not identify. She tells me that I can have a pup for €240 or 2 for €400 as if they were apples on a stall. I ask about vaccinations and she tells me they don't need any that the puppies have been with their mother for over 5 weeks and they have built up an immune system. She offers me a weak, quiet and disorientated 5 week old puppy. I take her and cuddle her under my clothing, she smells bad not like a puppy should smell. I feel a huge amount of anger come over me so I place her back into her box with the other puppies and I step back for fear I may lash out at this woman. Then I won't be able to help any of these puppies. I am tempted to pay for one of them but I know this will only fund another series of litters and I won't do that.

I tell Ms X that I need to think about the pup and I leave. I get into my car, I drive away and I stop down the road to breath and think about what I have just witnessed. I cry out loud and the face of the white female in the bedroom appears in my thoughts. I wonder if I could go back later with a van in the middle of the night and somehow remove them all. Anywhere would be better than that place even my own small shed would be clean and warm. It's amazing what you consider when faced with such a situation.

Needless to say I didn't go back that night and remove them all. I did however deal with Ms X.

I plan another visit to Ms X soon to make sure she got what she deserved. Details of how and when I cannot give. But I know there are thousands of these places all over the country.

Note from Karlin: I have seen pictures taken of this place and they are revolting.

This is a well known figure offering cavaliers in this way, and the case took a long time to bring against her. The state attorney for Indiana brought a successful prosecution but she has since decamped and whereabouts are unknown.

Posted on Tue, Jul. 26, 2005

Dog fraud fine tops $58,000

Woman failed to supply owners purebred proof

By Sara Eaton

The Journal Gazette

An Allen County woman has been ordered to pay $58,307 to the Indiana Attorney Generalâ€™s Office for selling what she described as purebred dogs but failing to provide paperwork to prove it to customers.

Seventeen customers in seven states, none from northeast Indiana, will receive payments ranging from $300 to $5,166 in restitution totaling $31,326 for their expenses and losses after they purchased dogs from Winifred J. Powelson.

The remainder of the Allen Superior Court judgment â€“ $26,981 â€“ covers expenses incurred by the attorney generalâ€™s office to investigate and prosecute the case and penalties for violating the Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, an order issued by Allen Superior Judge Nancy E. Boyer said.

Attempts to reach Powelson on Monday were not successful. She lived in Monroeville when the lawsuit, which listed at least three other aliases for her, was filed in August.

According to court records, Powelson failed to appear for a trial in April. The judge found in favor of the state after conducting the trial in Powelsonâ€™s absence.

The lawsuit alleged Powelson violated the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act in the sales of Cavalier King Charles spaniels by failing to provide eight new owners with documents that proved the dogs were purebred and registered with the American Kennel Club.

She also failed to provide refunds; for other customers she failed to cover medical expenses even thought she offered owners a one-year health guarantee.

At least one customer reported that they never received a puppy after paying for it, the lawsuit said.

Please note: this person also is now selling dogs under the name Claire Simmons. She has moved to Washington State, and is now a CONVICTED FELON following a case taken against her by the US Department of Justice in 2008.

Stories carried in Boise, Idaho publications (print and online) and reported by Idaho's KBCI TV, on July 26 2005, noted that police removed 64 small dogs (cavaliers) from the house of a woman named Elizabeth (Jolene) Simmons. Police stated that two small children were exposed to unsanitary conditions due to the dogs being kept in the home. She was initially jailed.

In reports, she stated the dogs were well cared for. The maximum number of dogs allowed in a residence in that city is three, according to the stories.

The dogs were eventually returned to Simmons who then said she would house them in a building outside of town but had refused to disclose to the police where the building was, according to the Idaho Statesman.

Court records show that Simmons had also been sued in small claims court for $1200 for failing to supply a puppy a couple ordered over the internet. They were told the puppy had died, then that a second puppy had died, and say they never received a third puppy when they asked for it to be vet-checked, according to statements by the couple who brought the suit.

According to petabuse.com, as of late 2005, “Simmons still faces misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty, failure to license animals and obstructing police officers, as well as an old warrant for making harassing phone calls. The 5 year old girl was returned to her parents.”

I have been asked to remove this entire post by Ms Simmons. I would like to point out: Linking is an established right under US case law, which has shown it is not a violation of copyright. It is also neither defamatory nor libellous to note facts that are a matter of public record, as all of the above information is and remains. The same is true under UK and Irish law.

According to Ms Simmons, who has provided a photocopy of an attorney letter, two of the charges above were dismissed a year later, in July.

She also supplied two letters on KBCI letterhead stationery addressed to me, the first stating that I must remove links to their stories; then a follow-up, stating that a lawsuit would be filed immediately against me. I have directly contacted the station, and the person who supposedly wrote and signed these letters. He says he knew nothing about them -- though he was interested to learn of their existence. The station now has copies of all material sent to me by Ms Simmons.

(including content of newspaper articles which are no longer available online but can, of course, be searched from print copies and are a matter of public record -- July 28 2005; KBCI carried reports on July 23, 24, 25 and 26 2005)

Google also caches some of the relevant pages.

Ms Simmons continues to send regular emails warning of lawsuits and using a letter purportedly written by the station director at KBCI also personally threatening me with a lawsuit as the basis of her claims. However I have been directly in touch with the director who was interested to learn of this; he states unequivocally that he never wrote such letters and was unaware that Ms Simmons was sending same to various websites reporting on her case. The station now has copies of all the emails and the letters and I have informed other websites receiving the same letters of his statement.

A PUPPY farmer is facing more than 50 claims that she conned customers with dying dogs after being exposed by the Sunday Mail.
Liz Baird appeared in court last week after families claimed she deliberately sold them puppies that were terminally ill.
And a flood of heartbroken pet owners have come forward since we revealed how customers paid hundreds of pounds to buy the dogs from Baird.
Hundreds more were spent on vet fees for animals bought from Hillbank Kennels, near Hurlford, Ayrshire.
More than 20 new cases emerged last week - taking the number of complaints to 55.
One of the new customers with horror stories was John Madden, 46, of Renfrew.
He said: "I bought a Cavalier King Charles pup from Baird for our 14-year-old daughter.
"What we didn't know at the time was it had a heart defect. It only lasted 14 weeks before we had to have it put down."
Ann Hodgens, 47, of Stepps, near Glasgow, said: "We bought a Cavalier King Charles puppy from Hillbank for s500. She had an upper respiratory disorder and a temperature. She fell and broke two leg bones.
"We spent s2000 on treatment for her but have not received any compensation from Baird, who told us the dog was registered with the Kennel Club when she wasn't."
Jennifer Thomson, 22, of Kilmarnock, said: "I bought a Cavalier King Charles puppy from Baird for s450.
"She was skin and bone and had a chest infection. I spent over s400 to save my puppy's life.
"I have raised a petition asking for Hillbank to be closed and I have over 300 signatures."
Al ison McMillan, 32, of Hamilton, said: "I bought a Shi Tzu puppy from Baird for my daughter's third birthday.
"A few days later it developed a growth in its tummy which burst.
I only had the pup a week and spent hundreds on vet's bills."
Baird's pastor husband Thomas - attached to the Assemblies of God Pentecostal Church at Johnstone, Renfrewshire - plays an active role in the puppy farm.
Liz Baird, 48, appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on Friday to face two charges of breaching the Trade Descriptions Act.
She is accused of advertising and selling Cavalier King Charles puppies, falsely stating they were registered with the Kennel Club.
In a separate civil action brought before the same court last week, East Ayrshire Council Trading Standards Department are trying to get an enforcement order to stop her selling ill pups.
An East Ayrshire Council spokeswoman said: "We are seeking an enforcement order barring her from engaging in the malpractices that have been complained about."
But Baird claims she does not sell sick dogs.
She said: "The puppies I sell are all in good health. Some are traumatised in transit and can die.
"I never claimed the dogs were registered with the Kennel Club.
They are registered with the Dog Lovers' Association."
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